ARVADA, CO–NOVEMBER 13TH 2010–Arvada West WR, Sean Leslie, can’t get ahold of a pass thrown by QB, Taylor Connors, on the last play of the game against Jaleel Awini, left, and Sammie Smalldon, and the Rangeview Raiders at the North Area Athletic Complex during the Colorado State football playoffs Saturday afternoon. Rangeview won 35-28. Andy Cross, The Denver Post

Greg Whisler spent last season as an assistant coach at Arvada West, but he’s hoping he can bring a new perspective to the football program.

Whisler was hired as the school’s football coach today, two months after former coach Casey Coons resigned.

“I think freshness is good, a new perspective, a new set of eyes,” Whisler told The Denver Post this afternoon. “It gives kids a chance to maybe compete for a different spot or at least showcase their talents under a new set of eyes.”

Whisler was the Wildcats’ head junior varsity coach and varsity quarterbacks coach last season. He was head coach at Class 1A Wiggins in 2009 and ’10, where he was 9-11, but went to the playoffs twice and laid the groundwork for the 2011 team that went to the state final.

Wiggins had won three games in three years prior to Whisler’s arrival; Arvada West was 2-8 last season. Asked to compare the two situations, Whisler said he hoped to install a “new sense of urgency and that excitement and that work ethic, and that sense of team community and brotherhood that we did out in Wiggins.”

Coons was 74-41 in 10 seasons before resigning Jan. 12. Arvada West interviewed seven candidates and ultimately settled on Whisler.

Athletic director Steve Anderson called the two-month hiring process “a little long and arduous.” Whisler said it was “patience-testing, but they let the process weed itself out.”

“We wanted to offer a teaching position with the head coaching job, so with us experiencing budget cuts here in Jeffco, it made that a challenge,” Anderson said.

The school’s administration is still trying to get Whisler, a math teacher, an in-building position. He currently works in the school’s math lab, helping to tutor students.

“I think it’s important for the head coach to be in the building and build that camaraderie and have those interactions with the players, and even the other students,” Whisler said.

Anderson said the administration liked Whisler’s familiarity with the roster, and the fact he has experience as a head coach.

“I feel like I’ve already got a good rapport with a lot of the players,” Whistler said.

He said his staff is “not set in stone yet,” but the coach has reached out to Coons’ assistants and “some of my contacts.”

“That’s the challenge I’m going to have,” Whisler said, “just making sure we have a good mix of the old and new, that respects the ten years, the body of work of Casey and his staff — which I think is excellent — with the new direction and the new energy that we want to move forward with.”

Whisler lives in the district, and has a son entering middle school who will attend Arvada West.

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